A cloud printing system may provide users with an ability to print content from virtually any application or device, using any cloud-aware printer. In other words, the cloud printing system may provide an ability for virtually any application running on any device within a network to communicate with a cloud print service, to thereby print to any printer that is also in communication with the cloud print service. In one example, an application may send a print request, over a network, to the cloud print server for printing a document using the cloud print service. In return, the cloud print server may provide a print dialog including a number of available cloud-aware printers, as well as printing options associated with each available cloud-aware printer. Upon selection of a cloud-aware printer and its corresponding printing options, the cloud print service may receive, over a network, a print job including the document subject to the print request in a printer-independent format, convert the print job to the selected printer specific format, and transmit the print job, over the network, to the cloud-aware printer for printing.
Because documents to be printed in the cloud printing system may be up-loaded to a server that is remote from the application, or are otherwise routed via a public network such as the internet, users may be concerned with using a cloud print service for printing confidential documents. However, rendering a secure printing mechanism within the cloud printing system presents its own set of challenges that are not encountered in conventional print paradigms.